We heard the refrain all offseason. The Giants can’t sign anyone. The Giants aren’t doing enough. The Giants are a loser franchise. The Giants are cheap. The Giants are gonna be the same boring-ass team we all hated watching in 2023. The Giants have no plan. Are the Giants even trying? Why should I watch this team if they’re just gonna be…this team?
We heard it all through December, then January, and then February. What is wrong with this team? Are we going to just waste another year? Why is Farhan okay with this? Why is ownership okay with this? Why are Giants fans okay with this? Why is literally anyone okay with this?
Anyway, it turns out the offseason was pretty good.
I don’t want to oversell this. It has been apparent for a while that the Giants need another starter, and with the injuries to Tristan Beck and Sean Hjelle (and Keaton Winn, though it’s at least possible he makes the Opening Day roster), that need has become even more glaring. Now, JD Davis and Joey Bart are certainly both on the trade block, so the team still might acquire that starter, but for the moment, the pitching side gets an Incomplete.
But the offense was the problem last year. The Giants were tied with the White Sox for the lowest wOBA in the second half, and ahead of only the A’s in runs scored, but the Giants played two more games and scored only two more runs, so they were actually worse. The only individual Giants who had a wRC+ over 100 were sweet, beautiful Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski. Joc Pederson was right at 100, and everyone else — literally everyone else — ranged from Below Average to Fucking Godawful at the plate.
So the team needed to remake the lineup. And after they got Jung Hoo Lee, the Giants…waited. That inaction was infuriating. Where’s the excitement? The Dodgers got a bunch of stupid excitement, and all we got was Tom Murphy? I mean, no disrespect to Tom Murphy, but the Dodgers’ fourth most exciting move was signing Teoscar Hernandez, and the Giants weren’t exactly in that league.
But after spending months not following up the Jung Hoo Lee signing with anything other than trading for Robbie Ray, who will maybe be not injured in mid-July, the Giants…followed it up. They signed Jorge Soler and then at long last they signed Matt Chapman. With Lee leading off, and Soler and Chapman in the middle of the lineup, and maybe a bounceback season from Michael Conforto or Yastrzemski or a leap from Thairo Estrada or Marco Luciano, you can see the core of a major league offense. It’s suddenly a real possibility instead of an outlandish wish.
And so, credit where credit is due: Their shit worked. The front office decided the price they were willing to pay for free agents, eventually paid it, and got good players without having to keep them around well into their decline years. Yes, it was a risky strategy when someone might have swooped in and taken Chapman away, but the Giants rightfully figured he’d still be there late in the offseason, and the strategy paid off.
I don’t want to make it seem like any of these new hitters is a sure thing. Lee has never played MLB-level ball, which is always a risk. Soler has spent his entire career alternating brilliant seasons with mediocre ones, and there’s no guarantee which version the Giants are going to get. Chapman has been a very consistent hitter for years now, but he faded in the second half last year as badly as his new teammates did.
All of these players have warts, or possible warts, or wart-like visages, but they also all have upside. You can’t ask the Giants to do more than bet on upside. Well, I guess you could ask them to trade for Mike Trout, but you probably won’t get too far.
I asked the team to play better last week, calling them uninspiring and not exciting. They’ve only signed one player since then, but he’s been enough to at least somewhat flip the negative vibes that have surrounded the Giants since July. I almost don’t know how to give Farhan & Co credit, but I have to do it here. It worked. What they did worked, and the 2024 team will be better off because of it.
Now seriously guys, sign Blake Snell already. You need another real starter, and you definitely need another guy with the upside of a star and the downside of intense mediocrity. It’s yet another feast or famine story for the team, so why not give it a shot? It makes sense, right?
Oh good. Because I really want the Giants to win the silver in Best Offseason. 1st place is for suckers and Padres, but I’ve got a good feeling about this. Why? Because the Giants offseason…worked. And it’s honestly been nice to see.
After the Robbie Ray trade, I thought that the Giants weren't even going to try to compete in 2024. While I don't think Disco has a full season left in him, this trade sure seemed like the definition of a sell low with Haniger. Then releasing Stripling ... I mean trading him ... seemed to suggest that they were going to let the kids pitch. A half of season of Ray and Cobb and letting the kids pitch sounds a rebuild. But, the Chapman signing changed all that because it shows that they plan to compete for a Wildcard. With Ray and Cobb joining late, suddenly you can squint and see the Giants being the 3rd Wildcard which goes on to win the NLCS for the 3rd year in a row.
Also, I hope JD Davis can play a cromulent second base, so they can more Thairo to SS.
"Fucking Godawful" - trademark that, Maestro.